Vladimir Nabokov, The Gift, tr. Michael Scammell with the collaboration of the author (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1963). Bound by Nicky Oliver, 2026.
Bookbinder's Statement
Full fair goatskin dyed using various leather dyes. Distressed graphite edges. Silk sewin Endbands. Pale blue suede flyleaves. Edge to edge doublures dyed with leather dyes.
This binding was created through two primary areas of research.
First, Vladimir Nabokov experienced grapheme-colour synaesthesia—a neurological condition in which letters and numbers are perceived as inherently coloured. He attributed this same condition to his character Fyodor in The Gift. This idea of language as colour became a central conceptual influence in the design.
Second, as the novel is set in 1920s Berlin, I drew on the visual language of German Expressionism, studying artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, Otto Dix, and Paul Klee. I also explored Bauhaus architecture, alongside the Schäfer building as documented in Dieter Zimmer’s Nabokov’s Berlin.
Bringing these influences together, I combined synaesthetic colour associations with the bold forms and expressive qualities of the period, further informed by Nabokov’s own rich and vivid descriptions within the text.
